Blooming flowers are sign of spring

Bill EllzeyColumnist

Published: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 7:34 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 7:34 a.m.

Driving up Sunday morning Grand Caillou Road toward Houma, I passed a sure sign of coastal Louisiana spring. For a change, it was a sunny day and several acres of unplanted sugar-cane land beside the highway were blossoming into a bright blanket of yellow flowers.

Pretty as they are at that stage, the blossoms have a mixed reputation. Long known as a mild diuretic when boiled into a tea, the yellow flowering plants are known locally as “pis en lit,” which translates to “pee the bed” in English.

So, despite their ability to paint a roadside landscape yellow, the plants are considered weeds. Late Montegut native Harold Ledet said that, as a boy, he had gathered a bouquet of the flowers to give to his mother, only to have her immediately throw them out with a rough reference to their diuretic properties.

Somehow, folks thought that those properties might result from merely touching the stems. On the other hand, I wonder if the town of Golden Meadow derived its name from the same yellow, weedy flower.

Murdered doctor. Nelia Anderson Pitre, who reads the Photographs and Memories feature online, prompted the research that produced this week’s story, by inquiring about the murder of Dr. Hanson Dupont.

“He was a doctor in Houma in the ‘50s for sure; was shot and killed in 1959.” Pitre had run across a reference to the case somewhere, “but I have not been able to find anything on it. I now live out of state, so I can’t run off to do look ups. Might make an interesting column.”

One reader of a subsequent column mentioning the case reported Dupont had been her doctor about the time one of her children was born. Another recalled that The Courier had covered the murder in a special edition and that a “crime magazine” had published an account.

Then, present Terrebonne Parish sheriff’s deputy Brent Favalora told me his late father, Tom, also a deputy, had been among the investigators in 1959, and had saved clippings and a copy of the magazine story, which said an auto jack, not a gun, was the murder weapon.

And although she was not then Mrs. Favalora, his mother knew a lot about the case. As a student at Nicholls State University, she worked part time for the Lafourche Comet. When Courier editors sought help from the Comet in publishing the murder “extra,” she proofread the story.

Fais do-do at VFW: The VFW Post No. 4752 is definitely continuing plans for fundraising dinner dances similar to the long-standing monthly dances at the Knights of Columbus home in Dulac, a few miles away.

The group’s second dance is scheduled for Saturday at the post home, 7587 Grand Caillou Road, Dulac.

Doors open at 4 p.m. Dance admission costs $3. The meal costs $6 and includes rice, chicken stew, sweet peas, potato salad, a dessert and a drink. The meal is served at 5 p.m.

The dance is from 6 to 9 p.m., and Larry White will perform. Norman “Tutty” Breaux, an organizer of the dinner and dance, said children are welcome, but there is a “no running” rule. The event is smoke and alcohol free. For information, call 857-9723.

<p>Driving up Sunday morning Grand Caillou Road toward Houma, I passed a sure sign of coastal Louisiana spring. For a change, it was a sunny day and several acres of unplanted sugar-cane land beside the highway were blossoming into a bright blanket of yellow flowers.</p><p>Pretty as they are at that stage, the blossoms have a mixed reputation. Long known as a mild diuretic when boiled into a tea, the yellow flowering plants are known locally as “pis en lit,” which translates to “pee the bed” in English.</p><p>So, despite their ability to paint a roadside landscape yellow, the plants are considered weeds. Late Montegut native Harold Ledet said that, as a boy, he had gathered a bouquet of the flowers to give to his mother, only to have her immediately throw them out with a rough reference to their diuretic properties.</p><p>Somehow, folks thought that those properties might result from merely touching the stems. On the other hand, I wonder if the town of Golden Meadow derived its name from the same yellow, weedy flower.</p><p>Murdered doctor. Nelia Anderson Pitre, who reads the Photographs and Memories feature online, prompted the research that produced this week's story, by inquiring about the murder of Dr. Hanson Dupont.</p><p>“He was a doctor in Houma in the '50s for sure; was shot and killed in 1959.” Pitre had run across a reference to the case somewhere, “but I have not been able to find anything on it. I now live out of state, so I can't run off to do look ups. Might make an interesting column.”</p><p>One reader of a subsequent column mentioning the case reported Dupont had been her doctor about the time one of her children was born. Another recalled that The Courier had covered the murder in a special edition and that a “crime magazine” had published an account.</p><p>Then, present Terrebonne Parish sheriff's deputy Brent Favalora told me his late father, Tom, also a deputy, had been among the investigators in 1959, and had saved clippings and a copy of the magazine story, which said an auto jack, not a gun, was the murder weapon.</p><p>And although she was not then Mrs. Favalora, his mother knew a lot about the case. As a student at Nicholls State University, she worked part time for the Lafourche Comet. When Courier editors sought help from the Comet in publishing the murder “extra,” she proofread the story.</p><p>Fais do-do at VFW: The VFW Post No. 4752 is definitely continuing plans for fundraising dinner dances similar to the long-standing monthly dances at the Knights of Columbus home in Dulac, a few miles away.</p><p>The group's second dance is scheduled for Saturday at the post home, 7587 Grand Caillou Road, Dulac.</p><p>Doors open at 4 p.m. Dance admission costs $3. The meal costs $6 and includes rice, chicken stew, sweet peas, potato salad, a dessert and a drink. The meal is served at 5 p.m.</p><p>The dance is from 6 to 9 p.m., and Larry White will perform. Norman “Tutty” Breaux, an organizer of the dinner and dance, said children are welcome, but there is a “no running” rule. The event is smoke and alcohol free. For information, call 857-9723.</p><p>Responding? Contact Bill Ellzey at 381-6256, bill-ellzey@att.net, billellzey312@gmail.com or c/o The Courier, P.O. Box 2717, Houma, LA 70361.</p>